Competition between local collisions and collective hydrodynamic feedback controls traffic flows in microfluidic networks

By studying the repartition of monodisperse droplets at a simple T junction, we show that the traffic of discrete fluid systems in microfluidic networks results from two competing mechanisms, whose significance is driven by confinement. Traffic is dominated by collisions occurring at the junction fo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2009-05, Vol.102 (19), p.194502-194502, Article 194502
Main Authors: Belloul, M, Engl, W, Colin, A, Panizza, P, Ajdari, A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chemical Sciences
Microfluidics - methods
Models, Chemical
Models, Theoretical
Oils - chemistry
or physical chemistry
Theoretical and
Water - chemistry
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Summary:By studying the repartition of monodisperse droplets at a simple T junction, we show that the traffic of discrete fluid systems in microfluidic networks results from two competing mechanisms, whose significance is driven by confinement. Traffic is dominated by collisions occurring at the junction for small droplets and by collective hydrodynamic feedback for large ones. For each mechanism, we present simple models in terms of the pertinent dimensionless parameters of the problem.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.194502